Hannah, Michigan

Making the Invisible Visible

I didn’t understand how much babies’ early relationships shape everything until I finally had the language for it.

Hannah

I believe the baby-caregiver relationship is one of the most intimate, vulnerable, and important relationships we have. It’s universal. Everyone has had caregivers; everyone has been a baby. Early childhood experiences are incredibly sensitive and personal to all of us. Since this time is so sensitive, families with young children deserve our best. It requires commitment, training, and our full attention to provide families with young children the best possible support.

The first three years are when everything is happening. The brain is growing more than it ever will again. Babies are forming the early templates through their experiences that will shape what they come to expect from relationships and from the world. That foundation affects how we explore, take chances, lean on others, and not just survive, but truly thrive.

Relationships Are Everything

I’ve learned repeatedly through my work with young children and families that with supportive relationships, change is possible. At a certain point you can have all the training and knowledge in the world, but if we can’t foster connection, if we can’t build relationships, if we can’t truly hear another and be heard, everything falls flat. The relationship is the conduit for possibility and potential.

That’s why infant and early childhood mental health is integral in child welfare and court systems. Babies and families deserve our best. When parents and babies are separated stories, understanding and relationships can get lost. A child’s triggers show up years later with no answer, and we are left to wonder, What did you experience? What do you need now?

There is real science, real practice knowledge and real potential for strong relationships that can help us deliver quality and attuned supports earlier, before harm compounds and before a child’s story becomes harder to understand.

Infant and early childhood mental health helps us slow down long enough to ask questions and to hold what babies can’t put into words yet.

Hannah

My Purpose

Today, my work with Safe Babies centers on supporting early childhood systems that support babies and toddlers, so the people making decisions about their lives understand what early development really requires: safety, stability, and relationships that protect, heal and repair.

I believe the parent-baby relationship is the starting point. When that relationship is supported, babies are supported. And when we elevate the voices of parents and caregivers, we get closer to what families need, not what systems assume they need.

A Future Built on Care

I’m passionate about prevention and relationship-based work because there are earlier entry points, if we slow down and look for them. There are opportunities to connect with families along the way, long before crisis becomes the only doorway.

This work is hard, but it’s worth it because many families and young children are going through immense challenges. They need people and systems working alongside them, so all babies have the chance to build a healthy foundation for their development and future. If we work with families, rather than against them, we don’t just change case outcomes; we change all that a family and child carry forward.

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